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Wednesday,
June 5, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Disinvestment
panel for closure of PSUs PSIDC in debt snarl-III Sale of
HPCL, BPCL deferred VSNL to stand
by decision |
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Punjab
to launch online lottery: CM Bank of
Baroda net doubles
Hartron
turnover doubles at 10.38 cr JK Tyre
plans to enter China
CII,
China sign pact on IT
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Disinvestment panel for closure of PSUs The Public Sector Disinvestment Commission has recommended the closure of high profile organisations like Punjab Health Systems Corporation, Punjab Financial Corporation, Punjab State Electronics Development and Production Corporation, Punjab State Sugar Federation. The Health System Corporation has been set up by availing loan from the World Bank only a few years ago. In fact, a part of this project has been completed. Recently Capt Amarinder Singh, Punjab Chief Minister, had stated that it would not be closed. Similarly, the Punjab Sugar Federation is also preparing for the major revamping of its sugar mills. There capacity is to be enhanced as Chief Minister has desired it. Moreover, there is proposal for power generation from the mills and also for preparing ethanol and also a project for the processing of molasses. It appears that there will be a strong resistance to the recommendations of the Commission and there are no chances its acceptance in toto by the State Government even after the submission of its final draft by the September end. Punjab Health Systems Corporation: Winding up of the Corporation when the funds of the project stand utilized; gains of the project be consolidated by Directorate of Health Services & Family Welfare by taking over assets & liabilities of the Corporation; hospital management, engineering and cost accounting sections be made functional through fixation of multi-level multi-user charges by the Directorate. PRTC: Winding up of the Corporation through retrenchment of the staff by offering compensation in terms of buses alongwith routes to the group of employees in the first go; otherwise retrenchment compensation be offered to those who do not want to be a part of the group to buy buses along with routes; commercially/ financially viable groups of 20-30 buses keeping in view the conditions of buses and profitability of the routes for sale to private parties. Punjab Financial Corporation: Winding up of the Corporation. Retrenchment of staff may be taken up immediately; pending formal winding up skeleton staff be retained to concentrate on recovery of NPAs; State to reduce registration fee and stamp duty on sale transactions of land and building of the closed units; to retire high cost bonds of 14% interest out of the sale proceeds or recovered amount, otherwise State to make provisions for the same. Sugarfed: Winding up of the Federation; liquidation of four sugar mills having negative net worth and undeveloped catchment area; disposal of six sugar mills with negative net worth but developed catchment area on ‘ as is where is basis’; sale of three sugar mills with positive networth to take full advantage of expansion, modernisation and diversification; retention of Nawanshahr Sugar Mill with full autonomy to function as farmers’ cooperative. Punjab State Handloom Weavers Apex Co-op. Society: Winding up of Weavco; production/processing centres be sold through public auction; show rooms be sold or handed over to Government organizations through negotiated terms and conditions and accepting cash compensation; excise free yarn be supplied to weavers by State KVIB; Central Government. be approached to set up Institute of Handloom technology in the State in collaboration with some Star Export House. Punjab Police Housing Corporation: Retention of the Corporation to draw Central assistance for expeditious implementation of police housing/office programme; needs to be rightsized so as to fulfil the norm of 14 per cent cost for administrative & related charges handing over the security of godowns to Pesco to reduce cost; timely preparation of balance sheet; to activate warehousing facilities to farmers and traders in oilseeds, pulses etc. Punjab State Tubewell Corporation: Winding up of the Corporation by entrusting operation and maintenance of tubewells to Water Users’ Associations and lining of canal water courses to concerned PRIs; assets be disposed of through public auction; some technically qualified employees be absorbed in Irrigation Department. Punseed: Restructuring of the Corporation by rightsizing of staff through VRS/retrenchment compensation; collaboration with strategic partner(s) through sale of 74 per cent equity for adaptation of latest technology to produce high quality seeds for crop diversification through fresh investment and better management control. Punjab State Co-operative Bank: Restructuring of the Bank by offering VRS/retrenchment compensation to the identified redundant staff; after stabilization, merger of PSCB with restructured PSCADB and then merger of Housefed to move towards universal banking through professionalisation. Puncom: Divestment of 43.96 per cent shares of Puncom by PSEDPC to a strategic partner alongwith a proviso that the remaining 26 per cent of Puncom equity will be purchased by the strategic partner after two years at a negotiated rate not less than the one offered earlier; strategic partner will retain the employees for at least one year and VRS, if offered after one year, would not be less than the one offered by the State on the date of divestment. Punjab Recorders
Limited, should also wind up of the subsidiary by approaching the High Court to appoint a liquidator. The Commision has also recommended the winding up a large number of subsidiaries of various parent public sector undertakings.
Concluded
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PSIDC in debt snarl-III Chandigarh, June 4 All through its chequered existence, it has worked to ensure accruals to the state by promoting “large and medium” industrial units with an aggregate capital of Rs 39,997.64 crore, providing employment to 73,531 and disbursing term loans and facilitating setting up of a number of ventures, which have substantially contributed to economic growth of the state. Despite the hazards and hassels in which PSIDC has landed itself, the Managing Director, Mr Viswajeet Khanna, has prepared an “annual business plan — 2002-03” of the Corporation. It takes cognizance of the basic problem of a “mismatch in assets and liabilities”. PSIDC went in for heavy borrowings from the market by way of private placement of bonds from 1994-1997. Though returns were expected in the form of buyback consideration over a period of time, this did not happen. This put heavy financial strain on PSIDC resources leading to the present debt-trap, according to knowledgeable sources. A perusal of the plan submitted by the Managing Director to the Board on May 24 indicates that the entire equity of PSIDC stands eroded. The investments in equity are far more than loan disbursements. Their financing was possible due to borrowings, which have further pushed PSIDC into a debt-trap. The current year is critical as PSIDC is to meet liabilities to the extent of Rs 297.62 crore (including Rs 17.02 crore, as overdue interest as on March 31,2002). PSIDC made only nominal investments due to its financial crisis in 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02. These were to the tune of Rs 2.50 crore, Rs 0.80 crore and Rs 0.25 crore, respectively. Still to give a boost to the industrialisation in the state, it has been proposed to make only a token provision of Rs 10 crore for equity investment during 2002-03. There is a downward trend in loading also because of market recession. Now PSIDC proposes to go in for new business by aggressive marketing, laying emphasis on ERS loans. It also proposes to sanction loans of Rs 40 crore during the year, though till date no sanctions have taken place. PSIDC is keeping a loan recovery target of Rs 50 crore in the current year. Several harsh steps are proposed to send a “clear signal” to defaulting collaborators. “There is a strong need for a well planned strategy at the highest level to effect maximum recoveries because the Corporation’s survival is dependent on this”, says the note of the Managing Director. Disinvestments in key companies is again recommended. That would get PSIDC Rs 121.53 crore from Punjab Tractors and Punjab Alkalies alone.
(Concluded)
Clarification
Linking of the names of Mr Kuldip Singh Sangha of MTI and Mr Satish Bagrodia of Winsome Yarns with Mr T.K.A. Nair in the earlier parts of the PSIDC write-up was due to an unintentional error and is deeply regretted.
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Sale of HPCL, BPCL deferred New Delhi, June 4 “A Cabinet note on the disinvestment of both the petroleum companies is yet to be prepared”, Disinvestment Secretary, Pradeep Baijal told newspersons here today. Even as he declined to divulge any details of the pending issues, Mr Baijal said that the disinvestment process was “moving ahead”. “The process of privatisation has difficult phases and the Government has to look for logical and acceptable solutions. For the Government every disinvestment is a big ticket sale”, he said. He said that Hindustan Organic Chemical Limited (HOCL), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) and National Fertilisers Limited (NFL) will be privatised within the next three months. Earlier during the year the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) had decided to privatise HPCL and BPCL after the dismantling of the administered pricing mechanism (APM) in April this year. A Parliamentary panel, however, had also opposed the proposed the disinvestment of HPCL and BPCL on the grounds that it was against the spirit of the Constitution.
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VSNL to stand by decision
Mumbai, June 4 “We stand by our decision and will send a reply to the government tonight”, said an official who did not wish to be named. He further added that their investment in Tata Teleservices was aimed at providing maximum benefits to VSNL following direct access to customers and would also be in the interest of shareholders. VSNL response was in connection with the letter written by DoT on May 31, saying that the decision to make inter-corporate investment in the share capital of an Indian company holding BSO licences was not in the interest of the shareholders as well as the company.
UNI
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Punjab to launch online lottery: CM
Chandigarh, June 4 The highest bid of Rs 4,700 crore from a Mumbai party has been finalised. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh told a news conference here yesterday. The bid represents the licence fee to run the online lottery for a period of seven years. Half of the fee would be receivable during the last two years of the licence period, he said. Four parties had bid for the online lottery.
UNI
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Bank of Baroda net doubles
New Delhi, June 4 Enthused by the performance, the bank has declared a 40 per cent dividend, BoB Chairman P.S. Shenoy told reporters. The bank’s gross profit grew by over 26 per cent to Rs 1309.26 crore in the last fiscal and the total income grew by 7.5 per cent to Rs 6948.71 crores in 2001-02. BoB’s business stood at over Rs 98,000 crore in the last fiscal with total deposits growing by 14 per cent to Rs 61,800 crore and advances by over 22 per cent at around Rs 36,200 crore in the last fiscal. PTI Dena Bank
Dena Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 37.46 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2002 against a net loss of Rs 272.71 crore for the corresponding period last fiscal. Total income of the bank has also increased from Rs 474.81 crore to Rs 549.12 crore. The bank has posted a net profit of Rs 11.36 crore for the year ended March 31, 2002 against a loss of Rs 266.12 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. The bank’s total income increased from Rs 1915.46 crore to Rs 2061.36 crore.
UNI
PNB Housing Fin
NEW DELHI: PNB Housing Finance Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Punjab National Bank, has achieved 47 per cent growth in operating profits during 2001-02. The company’s total income during the year was Rs 67 crore and profit before tax Rs 12.46 crore. PNB Housing Finance Managing Director R. Nambirajan also claimed that the company had achieved 106 per cent growth in the loan business.
UNI
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Hartron turnover doubles at 10.38 cr Chandigarh, June 4 Announcing this after the meeting of Board of Directors of Hartron, Chairman M.K. Miglani claimed that the corporation had earned a highest-ever tentative profit of about Rs 3.53 crore before taxes during the last financial year as compared to merely Rs 49.79 lakh in 2000-2001. Hartron had become a total solution provider and the software development. It had bagged many prestigious turnkey projects, including the preparation of offline and online photo identity cards for Haryana and Punjab, successful execution of a task of the preparation of electoral card book, computerised electoral rolls for each Assembly Constituency along with multiple copies thereto for Haryana as well as for Chandigarh Administration, police net for the Haryana police, excise and taxation, treasury, Vidhan Sabha, tourism, Haryana Bhavan, higher and secondary education, supplies and disposal, printing and stationery and small savings. He said the corporation was also providing its services as well as its expertise to the departments, boards and corporations of the state government for meeting their requirements by executing the purchase of computers, related peripherals, networking and allied items besides facilitating the state government in formulation as well as implementation of various e-Governance schemes for the percolation of IT down to the masses. Mr Miglani said Hartron was also actively involved in human resource development by spreading computer education in the state through its 74 franchise centres known as Hartron workstations and e-Education centres set up across the length and breadth of the state. In addition, Hartron had been instrumental to instil and IT culture in the government working by regularly conducting specialised appreciation course in computer for officers and officials of the state government departments, boards and corporations
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JK Tyre plans to enter China
New Delhi, June 4 The company, which is already outsourcing tyres from a Chinese manufacturer for sale in overseas markets, now plans to foray into the huge Chinese market this year.
PTI
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PSIEC protest Garment exports Haryana Coop Faber Heatkraft Honda product Taj Hotels |
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